The Other Potter
by Shelley101
Summary: What if Lily had already been pregnant when they had to go into hiding? What if, two months before that fateful night, she had given birth to a girl – Isabelle – and Dumbledore had never found out? What if the two remaining Marauders had had the opportunity to love and care for her? And what if she'd discovered her famous brother, Harry Potter, before his eleventh birthday?
1. The Hidden Potter

****A/N:**** Thanks for clicking on this attempt at a Harry Potter fic! I'm not sure how well this is going to go: I've got exams in January to study for, and an essay due in 2 weeks, but that's Uni for you! It's just going to be something I write for the fun of it, although I have plenty of ideas, which I hope to write down in this story. It's a pretty basic concept, mostly explained in the summary, but just to add - this is going to follow The Other Potter's life: it goes into her childhood and upbringing, so you can see how her life will be affected by what happened to Lily, James and Voldemort on that fateful Halloween night. And won't focus on her journey through Hogwarts. If people enjoy it, I might decide to make a sequel starting with her in her 1st year. Enjoy!

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 ** **THE OTHER POTTER****

 ** **Chapter One: The Hidden Potter****

It was a breezy afternoon in early August. Despite the impending doom that the Potter family felt – which had something to do with the fact that their son had been marked for death by a wizard feared by all: He Who Must Not Be Named – Lily and James Potter couldn't help but smile at their infant son Harry as he zoomed around on his toy broom, which he had received as a first birthday present from his godfather Sirius Black.

James had his arm wrapped around Lily, his hand lightly touching the baby bump protruding from under her maternity shirt. Chuckling as Harry chased their fluffy ginger cat on his broom, he looked down at his wife, and she looked up at him; her green eyes twinkling behind a smile.

"He's going to be as good as me," James told her.

"The best Quidditch player Hogwarts has ever seen," Lily agreed. "Oh," she laughed. "Seems like she disagrees,"

"Did he kick?" James asked excitedly. He pressed his hand delicately onto Lily's belly; trying to feel his baby kicking.

"I thought we agreed she was going to be a girl?" Lily asked; taking James' hand and putting it in the right place so he could feel the kicks.

"No, you and Padfoot agreed that. Me, Moony and Wormtail bet he's going to be a __he__ ," James corrected. "I can't feel him," he complained. He wrapped Lily into a tighter hug as he tried again to feel the kicks.

"That's because you keep calling our daughter a he," Lily laughed; moving his hand around a bit. "There," she said. "Can you feel her now?"

"Wow," James smiled. "She's a feisty one. Just like her mother," the baby kicked again, making Lily wince. James kissed her on the forehead, then moved down to her lips. "She's going to be beautiful as well. Just like you," he added. They shared a kiss, which was interrupted by Lily shouting –

"James! The vase!"

In his eagerness, Harry had flown his broom straight into the bookshelf and knocked one of Lily's vases off. Instead of charming the vase to stop moving, James attempted to catch it; and obviously failed, instead, play-wrestling little Harry off his broom and throwing him playfully up into the air, catching him easily.

"Oh no," he said with a silly voice. "Did you accidentally break Aunt Tuney's ugly vase?" Harry laughed loudly, and squealed as James tickled him.

"You could have saved that – you could have used your __wand__?" Lily snapped playfully – she wasn't actually annoyed; she hated that vase, but had kept it because it was from her sister.

"I'm teaching Harry not to rely on magic," James replied.

"Which is why you're letting him use a toy broom that flies around and wreaks havoc in this house?" Lily said; trying her hardest not to laugh, in order to be stern. James gave her a cheeky smirk, and Lily couldn't help but let her grin appear. "Come here, you," she said to Harry happily.

Harry crawled out from his father's arms and ran clumsily towards his mum; laughing and giggling as she hugged him.

There was a knock at the door. "That'll be the Marauders," James said as he stood up. He left to answer the front door, leaving baby Harry curiously prodding his mum's belly with his finger. James walked back in, followed by two of his closest friends, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black.

"Moony! Paddy!" Harry squealed happily. He ran towards them both, and Sirius picked him up effortlessly.

"Alright Harry?" Sirius asked. "How's it hanging?"

"Where's Wormy?" Lily asked.

"He's had to talk to Mad-eye about something – seemed a bit down if you ask me," Remus replied as Harry clambered from Sirius' arms into his.

"This whole war is making everyone down, so it doesn't surprise me," James added. "Anyone for firewhiskey?" he offered. Sirius nodded, Remus and Lily shook their heads, although James already knew Lily couldn't drink because she was pregnant.

"How's she holding up?" Sirius asked; nodding his head at Lily's bump.

"She's annoyed that James keeps calling her __he__ ," she laughed.

"You won't know until he's born Lils – I could have been right all this time," James called from the kitchen.

"God help me if he's right," Lily muttered jokingly. Remus chuckled.

The four adults spent the afternoon gossiping, chatting and laughing, with Harry occasionally making enough noise to make them give him the attention he thought he deserved. It was well into the evening before any of them noticed the time and decided it would be best for Remus and Sirius to get back to their homes.

When they were gone, James struggled to round Harry up from the garden, and then carried him upstairs and to the bath. It took a while for him to give him a bath, because Harry kept begging James to charm the bubbles to grow bigger and bigger until they popped; soaking them both in soapy water, and resulting in Harry giggling so hard he nearly slipped backwards into the water. Finally, Harry was clean and put to bed, Lily and James went to sleep themselves. They were both exhausted.

~TOP~

Unfortunately, their peaceful night wasn't going to last long, because at precisely midnight, Lily woke up in excruciating pain. She cursed loudly and kicked James, trying to wake him up.

"Wha…?" he murmured in his sleepiness.

Lily cursed again and squeezed James' forearm tightly. "Baby. The baby's coming," she managed to mutter.

"Oh my god," James said; sitting up quickly. "I'm gonna call the midwives,"

"You mean Padfoot and Moony?" Lily said; breathing through her pain as she had another contraction.

"Yes," he replied. James' Patronus galloped off into the dark night to send a message to the remaining Marauders. "Do you think Harry will sleep through this or should we ask Batty to watch him?"

"I don't __care__ , James – just get this baby out of me," Lily snapped.

Remus, Peter and Sirius arrived within minutes of each other, and Remus and James helped Lily get down the stairs whilst Sirius and Peter set up where Lily was going to give birth to a hopefully very healthy son or daughter.

Lily managed to get through her contractions for a couple of hours before Remus told her that it was time to push. She pushed once, squeezing one of Sirius' hands, and one of James' hands, and as she stopped screaming, they all heard a crying Harry upstairs. Desperate to give his hand a break from the constant squeezing, Sirius offered to go and get him to calm him down.

"Be quick. You don't want to miss the birth," James said as he rushed upstairs.

"Alright champ?" Sirius mumbled as he entered Harry's room.

"Paddy!"

He picked him up. "No need to cry, it's just mummy having a baby. This is a __good__ thing – not a screaming thing," Harry gave him a watery grin and had stopped crying. "Shall we go downstairs?" Sirius walked back into the living room – where Lily was screaming once again.

"Mummy?" Harry mumbled.

"It's okay Harry, mummy's okay," Lily assured him. "Padfoot, do you really think bringing Harry downstairs was a good idea?"

"Maybe not my best," Sirius admitted as he soothed Harry. Peter had taken over holding Lily's other hand.

"Last push, Lily," Remus said. So, Lily pushed, and she screamed, although she tried not to be too loud, so as not to scare Harry, and soon there was a tiny cry coming from Remus' arms. He flicked his wand easily to cut the cord, and passed the baby to Lily. "You have a daughter," he told them.

"Dammit, I was wrong," James joked. Lily mock-glared at him as he crouched down next to her and kissed the top of his new baby's head. "She's got your hair," he said softly. He was right. On top of the baby's head was flaming red hair, and although it was only a small amount, it was clear what colour it was.

"She's beautiful," Lily mumbled; a tear trickling down her cheek.

Sirius put Harry down, and he clumsily made his way over to his mum and dad. "Baby," he giggled; putting his finger out and pointing at her. He poked the side of her face gently and laughed as the baby gargled.

"This is your sister, Harry," James told him. "You promise to look after her, no matter what?" he asked. Harry nodded importantly, and stared at the bundle in his mum's arms curiously. "What should we name her, Lil?"

"I like Isabelle," Lily said quietly. "It means strength,"

"I like that too," James replied; kissing Lily softly. "And her middle name is Lily – after the strongest woman __I__ know," he added.

"Isabelle Lily Potter," Lily repeated happily. "It's perfect,"

"Issybel?" Harry attempted.

"Yeah," James replied; bringing Harry into his arms and kissing his forehead.

~TOP~

A couple of hours later, and dawn was breaking. All the Marauders were passing baby Isabelle around them as Harry sat in his dad's lap. Lily had gone back to bed, to try and get some rest after the hours of labour she had gone through, but none of the others had bothered, and there had been no use trying to get Harry back to sleep, as he was over-excited at his new sister.

However, Harry had finally fallen asleep in his father's arms, and James' knew this was as good time as any to ask his friends what he had been meaning to ask them since his daughter had been born.

"Do you think he knows? Dumbledore?" Sirius asked the guys, before James had a chance to speak.

"What makes you ask that Padfoot?" Peter asked.

"Just curious. You've deliberately been hiding the pregnancy… in case… and I can't help but think that Dumbledore knows," Sirius replied.

"Well, he's a smart man," Remus said. "It wouldn't surprise me if he does. And if he doesn't, well, I'd give him a few days and he'll be sending Lily a hamper,"

"Actually, guys… I had something to ask you… regarding that," James piped up.

"What's that, Prongs?" Remus asked.

"You'll look after her, won't you? And Harry. If something happens, if Lily and I –"

"Nothing will happen, Prongs," Sirius assured him. "That wanker won't find you – it's on me, isn't it? And don't count on me spilling my guts. I'd die before I did that,"

James looked grateful, but still glanced at Peter and Remus to answer his question.

"Prongs, if anything happens, we'll do everything in our power to look after your children," Remus replied seriously. Peter nodded in agreement.

"Make sure you look after Padfoot too," James joked; to try and lighten the mood. Remus smiled, and so did Sirius, but Peter looked glum at all this talk of something awful happening to his friends.

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 ** **A/N:**** I really hoped you enjoyed the first chapter. If you did, it would be great if you could leave a review. Thanks!


	2. That Fateful Night

**A/N:** Hey! Thanks for all the reviews, favourites and follows - I'm really grateful. Enjoy this next chapter!

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 **Chapter Two: That Fateful Night**

The remainder of Summer passed in a blur for the Potter family. August came and went, filled with happiness and although there was still a sense of foreboding due to the occurring War, Isabelle helped bring hope into their small home in Godric's Hollow. September arrived, and then passed just as quickly, until it was October. Halloween night approached, and James and Lily planned to go all out, even though Harry would not be able to go trick or treating like James had hoped.

"Pump-in!" Harry squealed. Lily had just dressed his baby sister in a pumpkin baby grow; something that entertained Harry immensely. He watched his sister kick, and made a silly face to try and make her laugh. He succeeded, and a giggle erupted from her, making Harry grin proudly.

A couple of hours passed, where James transfigured a few things around the house to look like bats, and Lily had charmed them to float from the ceiling and occasionally swoop down over Harry and Isabelle's heads.

But the happiness was not going to last long.

A strange darkness fell over the house, an eerie darkness, and immediately James and Lily realised that what they had been dreading all these months – what they had been hiding from – was finally going to happen. "Go upstairs," James told his wife. "I'll hold him off," Harry, sensing the change in his dad's tone, started to cry, and cried especially hard when his mum lifted him up. "Be good, champ," he told his son; ruffling his hair then kissing him.

"James," Lily whispered; fear evident in her voice. James kissed Isabelle, who was in Lily's other arm, and she gargled, then smiled at him. "We should just… we –"

"There's not enough time," James replied seriously. "I love you," he told her; kissing her firmly. Lily muttered that she loved him too, then rushed upstairs and into Harry's bedroom. All this confusion, and Harry's crying made Isabelle start to cry too, and Lily put Harry down in his cot to soothe her.

"Shh, shh, Iz," Lily whispered; kissing her softly. "It's okay. It's all going to be okay,"

"Mummy?" Harry questioned.

Lily closed her eyes and mumbled an incantation; hovering her wand over her baby girl. She immediately drifted off, and Lily wrapped her tightly in a blanket and placed her carefully inside the wardrobe; leaving it ever so slightly open. "Yes sweetie?" she said to her son; taking him in her arms and kissing him.

The door swung open, causing Harry to start crying again. "Stand aside," Voldemort bellowed.

"Take me," Lily begged as she placed Harry back in his cot. "Leave Harry, and take me instead,"

"Idiot woman," he muttered. He pointed his wand towards Lily. No words left his mouth, but there was a blinding flash of green light and Lily screamed; falling to the ground lifelessly.

Not understanding what had just happened, Harry looked up at the hooded figure now standing in front of his cot. With no remorse, he raised his wand at the infant and the same blinding green flash came out of the end of his wand –

~TOP~

But baby Harry was not dead like his mother; not dead like the countless other victims of Voldemort. Nobody lived once he decided to kill them – but Harry Potter had.

Sitting in his cot, Harry cried and screamed; wondering where his dad was, and wondering why he wasn't coming to make him laugh; wondering why his mother was sleeping right in front of him, when she should have been cuddling him.

~TOP~

Time passed. Enough time so that Severus Snape could arrive at the house, step over James Potter's still body, rush upstairs and realise with a shattered heart that the love of his life was gone. Severus clasped Lily's cold body in his arms for a while; sobbing desperately – knowing this was his fault. Her death was his fault. Harry wept still, but was ignored by Severus – he couldn't understand what had happened: how the Potter boy was alive, but his mother was dead, even though the Dark Lord had wanted Potter dead.

~TOP~

A panicked and distraught Sirius Black flew on his motorbike to his best friend's house to see if it was true. The rumours. It was now dawn, and as he was approaching the house he knew something wasn't right.

It was destroyed.

The house was destroyed. Sirius let out a hopeless cry: an angry cry. He landed his bike in front of their home, and rushed up the front path. The door had been blown off the hinges, and in the doorway, lay his best mate. His brother. James Potter. "I'm sorry," Sirius muttered as he crouched down to close James' eyes. "I'm sorry James," he put James' glasses back on him, and let himself cry for the only family he'd ever known.

But then he heard something that made hope pulsate through him. His stomach clenched, and Sirius listened hard, to see if the sound would repeat itself. To see if it was real or a figment of his imagination.

There it was again. A cry. Sirius stood up quickly and made his way up the stairs, towards the crying. And when he entered the room, relief flooded through him. There, Harry was – screaming and crying, with a bright red scar on his forehead, but otherwise untouched.

Sirius took a moment to say goodbye to Lily; stroking her red hair, and kissing her on the forehead. "I'm sorry Lily. I'll look after them. I promise you," and then walked over to Harry and picked him up.

"Paddy," he mumbled; giving him a watery grin.

"Hey buddy," Sirius whispered; his voice cracking. He brushed his finger over the fresh scar on Harry's forehead, then clasped his godson close to his chest. "Where's your sister, eh? Is she alright?"

"Issy?" Harry wondered; looking up at Sirius.

"Yeah champ – where did mummy put her?" he asked him again.

"Mummy!" Harry squealed happily. _That's_ who he wanted. He pointed at his mother's body and called for her again. Sirius looked at the ceiling to hide his tears from Harry, and walked out of the room. "Mummy! Paddy, mummy!" Harry insisted.

"I know, I know," Sirius mumbled. He walked slowly downstairs, and into the kitchen, where he got some milk out for Harry and warmed it up ever so slightly. "Here," he said. Harry grabbed at the bottle hungrily and drank quickly. "Slow down, bud – you don't want to hurt yourself," Harry stopped drinking and hiccupped; giggling at th weird sensation.

"Paddy – mummy and daddy?"

"You're stuck with me, buddy," Sirius said quietly. He went back upstairs to try and find Isabelle – the idea that _he_ had gotten to her sneaking up on him. He put Harry back in his cot and went into Lily and James' room, where Isabelle's cot was. But it was empty.

Sirius went back into Harry's room (Harry was napping peacefully) and used his wand to lift Lily up and carry her to her bed. Then he did the same to James, and sighed sorrowfully at the pair of them.

For ten years, James had been his brother – his family – and now he was gone, and it was all Sirius' fault. Sirius didn't know how he was going to cope. All he wanted to do was go after Peter – their _betrayer_ – and murder him. Make him pay for selling them out to Voldemort. But he knew he shouldn't, because he and Remus had promised to look after the kids.

That reminded Sirius that he was supposed to be looking for Isabelle, but before he could start looking again, he heard what sounded like low rumbling noises coming from downstairs.

Pulling his wand out, Sirius crept out of the master bedroom and hovered at the top of the stairs. He sighed in relief at the sight he saw.

A man who must have been double the height of a normal man, and wider than he was tall, stood where the front door would have been, if it hadn't been blown off. "Hagrid," Sirius said from where he was standing.

"Sirius Black," Hagrid said gruffly. It sounded like he had been crying. "Shoulda known yer would be 'ere," he walked into the actual house, and got out a handkerchief that was the size of a table cloth to dab at his eyes. "Lily an' James… can't believe he actual killed 'em. I can't believe…"

"What are you doing here?" Sirius asked.

"Dumbledore sent me," Hagrid replied; seemingly proud. "Says I 'ave to bring young Harry to him. To live with his muggle aunt and uncle," He seemed happy that the great wizard had trusted him with something so important.

"No!" Sirius insisted. "I'll take him. I'm his godfather. It's my job. I promised them,"

"It's Dumbledore's orders, Sirius. I'm sorry. You'll have to talk to him," Hagrid replied, somewhat regrettably.

Sirius thought about arguing – he definitely knew more magic than Hagrid did – but the chances of being able to stun a half-giant and escape with baby Harry and an Isabelle that he hadn't actually found yet seemed impossible. Would stupefy even work on him? So, instead, knowing that Dumbledore _couldn't_ know about the Potter's secret baby yet, Sirius nodded. He would talk to Dumbledore about becoming Harry's guardian once he sorted everything out with Isabelle and Remus. "Take my bike – it'll get you there quicker – to Dumbledore,"

"Yer sure?" Hagrid asked.

"I won't be needing it. And it'll be big enough for you, and you can carry Harry safely," Sirius replied. He went into Harry's bedroom and wrapped him up into a blanket. "Bye champ. I'll see you later. I promise. And never forget your parents, or Iz," Sirius walked back downstairs. "Take him," he said quietly; passing a sleeping Harry to Hagrid. "Look after him, Hagrid. Until I can talk to Dumbledore,"

"Yep," Hagrid said; spluttering as he had started to cry once more.

"See you," Sirius said. And with that, Hagrid was gone. Sirius sighed angrily to himself. He was annoyed that he couldn't look after Harry, but he would talk to Dumbledore in the next few days and prove that he was the best choice for Harry's guardian.

But in the meanwhile, he had to find Isabelle. Despite knowing that it would be useless, Sirius found himself frustratingly yelling "Accio Isabelle!" in every room of the house, until he got back to Harry's now empty bedroom. And then something caught his eye. Harry's wardrobe was open – just a crack – but still open. Sirius investigated and almost cried in relief.

Isabelle.

She was tight bundle in the cupboard, sleeping peacefully, as if nothing had happened, and completely unharmed. Sirius took her up in her arms, said one last goodbye to James and Lily, then left the house.

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 **A/N:** I hope you liked this chapter. If you did, reviews are much appreciated :)


	3. Messrs Moony and Padfoot

**A/N:** Hello and welcome back. I know it's been ages but maybe there are still readers out there who want a new chapter. Enjoy!

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 **Chapter Three: Messrs Moony and Padfoot**

Because Sirius had given Hagrid his motorbike, it took him almost the whole day to get to Remus' house and by the time he had rung the doorbell, a still sleeping Isabelle wrapped up warmly in his arms, it was almost dark out. After 30 seconds, there still wasn't a reply and Sirius rung again, then knocked loudly.

He heard an incoherent shout coming from inside. "Moony! Open up!" Sirius shouted back. He waited another couple of minutes before he heard a crash and then breaking glass. "Alohomora!" he chanted as he clumsily got his wand out.

Remus' front door clicked open and Sirius burst in. Remus took one look at who had entered his house and started laughing manically. "Get out!" he slurred loudly.

"Moony? Are you _drunk_?" Sirius asked him

"Get out!" Remus repeated, somehow managing to pull himself up from the floor using the table. "Get out!" he stumbled to Sirius, who held his arm that Isabelle wasn't tucked into to stop him from falling. "Get out!"

"Moony, stop. I've got Izzy,"

Remus stopped dead and stared at the bundle of blankets in Sirius' arms. "You bastard!" he lunged towards his friend and Sirius muttered a spell under his breath, creating a block between Remus and himself. "You killed them! You bastard!"

"I didn't Remus!" Sirius shouted. "I swear – I didn't,"

"Oh yeah so how are they _dead_?!" Remus spat at him. "Why are _you_ holding Izzy when she should be in Lily and James' arms?"

"It was Wormtail," Sirius told him. "I thought making me the secret keeper would be too obvious – that bastard definitely would have known it was me – so I persuaded James and Lily to change it. James and I agreed Wormy would be the best secret keeper. No way would _he_ think that James would put his trust in him," Sirius explained.

"Peter," Remus muttered, somewhat bewildered.

"I didn't kill them, Moony I swear. I put their lives in Wormtail's disgusting betraying hands but I didn't tell You-Know-Who where they were," he said. "You've got to believe me," he begged.

Remus looked shattered and broken. His eyes were bloodshot from the vast amounts of vodka he had just consumed to mourn the loss of not only James and Lily but also of Sirius and his skin was pale and shabby. The full moon was barely a week away. "Peter," he repeated. And then his body was overcome with loud, painful sobs. Hopeless sobs. He sank to his knees, head in his hands, and wept.

Sirius put his wand away and the invisible wall disappeared. "I know," he whispered, putting his spare hand on Remus' head and trying to comfort him as best he could with a sleeping baby in his arms.

It was an odd scene – scraggy Sirius, in his leather jacket and mess of hair, trying to comfort a sobbing Remus who looked 10 years older than he really was. And Isabelle, who was blissfully unaware of all that had happened and all that was to come. They stayed like that for 10 minutes or so, until Remus managed to stop crying and instead started to shake his head. "It doesn't make sense," he muttered, finally standing. Sirius nodded and moved Izzy to his other side. "Why would Wormtail... _how_ could he? After everything... everything we did for him. After everything James... it doesn't make sense,"

"I'm going to kill him," that was Sirius' way of agreeing with everything Remus had just said.

Remus snapped his head up. "No," he ordered.

"Moony –"

"Padfoot, if you do that... _he wins_. They think it was you. They think _you_... You're a wanted man, Paddy. You can't do anything that will reveal where you are. The ministry has already come looking for you here," Remus replied.

"He betrayed us!" Sirius shouted.

"He betrayed Prongs and Lily!"

"And by doing that, he betrayed us all," Sirius growled. Remus looked solemn and then nodded once. "I'm going to kill him," he repeated, this time in a lower voice.

"We'll go to Dumbledore. We'll explain everything to him – he'll believe us and he can get your name cleared and Peter thrown into Azkaban," Remus told him sternly. Sirius glared at him, anger pulsing through him – he couldn't understand why Remus wasn't as angry as he was. He couldn't understand why his anger hadn't boiled to the surface and why he didn't want to kill Peter with his own two hands.

"We can't tell Dumbledore," Sirius said gruffly. "He'll take Isabelle. He's already taken Harry,"

"Promise me you won't go after Peter," Remus replied. Sirius scoffed, then grumbled an unconvincing agreement. "Maybe it's best if Izzy _does_ go –"

"Go _where_ Moony?!" Sirius snapped. "You know where Dumbledore is sending Harry? Lily's _sister_. Her _muggle_ , bitch of a sister who married that gross muggle man and had a gross _muggle_ child," he ranted, disgusted at the very thought.

"Muggles aren't that bad," Remus said fairly.

"That isn't what I'm saying Moon! I'm saying my _godson_ is being sent to live with a family who will never accept him and never understand him instead of growing up right _here_. With his uncles. In a magical home. And if I talk to Dumbledore and he refuses to let me look after Harry, then we can't give up on Isabelle. We can't let him take her too. Prongs wanted _us_ to be their family. We _are_ their family," Sirius replied.

"You want to be Isabelle's family?" Remus asked.

"I want _us_ to be her family. I can't be a good dad... not by myself. But you, Moony? You'd be a great dad for her," he said. "And a great dad for Harry, if we can persuade Dumbledore to-"

"No," Remus interrupted. "No. No, no. I can't be her dad – look at me, Padfoot? 1 day without Prongs and I turn to drink – and not to mention, I am a _werewolf_. A werewolf is not at all fit to be a dad," he argued. "You're crazy if you think... _we_ can raise a _child_ ,"

"Am I Moon? Am I crazy?" Sirius asked softly. He held Isabelle out to him in his arm. "Look at her, Remus?"

"I can see her Sirius," Remus snapped. It was rare that the pair of them used each other's real names. "And I can see that she deserves better than a werewolf and a –"

"And a _what_?" Sirius cut in. "A _Black_?"

"I was going to say dog," he tried to joke. Sirius managed to crack the tiniest smile. Remus sighed. "I don't think it's a good idea... Isabelle would be better off with her aunt and uncle,"

"We promised," Sirius tried. Remus looked lost. "The last thing we promised Prongs was that we would protect them. Isabelle and Harry. We owe him that. If you don't want to do this for me, do it for James,"

"Maybe us giving her to Dumbledore is how we protect her," he replied sadly.

"You didn't see them," Sirius' voice cracked. "The way they –"

"Padfoot..." Remus warned.

"You didn't _see them_!" he snapped. "He was my brother!" he had tears in his eyes. " _Dammit_ , Remus! He was my family!" Sirius didn't want to cry but knew he was close to breaking down. He looked into Remus' sad eyes. "Please, Moony. Please,"

Remus thought for a while. He motioned for Sirius to pass Isabelle to him and thought for a while. As he looked down at the peaceful baby who had just had her whole family robbed from her, he felt his heart open for her. She made a little spit bubble and gargled. Then her lip turned into a small smile in her sleep. He knew he couldn't say no to her and he couldn't say no to Sirius either. So, he said: "Have you fed her yet?"

"Uh," Sirius choked out, surprised at his question.

"Padfoot – she's probably starving," Remus scolded.

"Surely if she was starving, she would have woken up?" he questioned. Remus bought her up to his face and made a disgusted face. "I don't know how to change nappies!" Sirius argued.

"She hasn't woken up yet?" Remus asked, going back to what Sirius had said originally.

"Well, no," he shrugged.

"Have you _tried_ waking her up? She probably had a long night," he asked. Remus stroked Isabelle's cheek to try and wake her. She yawned but didn't wake up.

"She must be really tired," Sirius said.

"I don't think she's meant to sleep that long without food," Remus said. He stood up and walked to his fireplace. "The Burrow," he said, pointing his wand at the flames. 5 minutes later, a young boy with freckles grinned from the flames. "Evening Fred, is your mother around?" Remus asked politely.

"It's George. And she's in the kitchen,"

"Oh. Sorry George," Remus replied.

"Fred! Get your head out of the fireplace! Who's there?" Remus heard Molly shout as she walked into the room. The boy disappeared from the flames and was replaced by Molly a few seconds later. "Oh. Remus, hello. What an unexpected surprise. I heard about James and Lily... I'm so, _so_ sorry,"

"Thank you, Molly," he replied quietly. "Listen, do you know anything about how long babies are meant to sleep?"

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 **A/N:** Hope you liked the chapter, please review with any thoughts you may have about it. Thanks!


	4. The Burrow

**A/N:** Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter Four: The Burrow**

It was nearly 10 pm and all the Weasley children had finally been shepherded to bed and fallen asleep. Molly and Arthur were downstairs sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for Sirius Black and Remus Lupin to arrive. Despite the awful news they'd gotten about the deaths of James and Lily (who they had grown to be close friends with in The Order), the pair couldn't help but notice that breathing had become so much easier and a weight had been lifted off their shoulders.

You-Know-Who was gone.

Dead, some people were saying. Molly was dubious, but Arthur was more than happy to be optimistic. And even if he wasn't necessarily _dead_ , he was definitely gone and that was enough for Mr and Mrs Weasley to finally relax, knowing that their children would be much safer now.

After Remus and Sirius had explained the problem with Isabelle Potter – how she had been fast asleep since that awful night at Godric's Hollow – Molly had insisted that the pair of them come over so she could help. They had tried to refuse; had said that if Molly could just give them some tips, that would be great, but Molly reckoned that the young men needed more than just a couple of tips. According to Sirius, Dumbledore had no idea that Isabelle even existed, and now the two of them were planning on raising Isabelle together – they _definitely_ needed more than a couple of tips, Molly had decided.

So, she had told them to give her a couple of hours so she could get her children to bed and then come over so she and Arthur could help.

A knock on the front door signalled their arrival, and Arthur stood to answer it. He thought the pair of them looked troubled and although they were only 21, this added on at least another few years to their ages. He thought that they were both too young to suffer the loss that they had just suffered. "Come in. Come in. Molly is just through there – in the kitchen," Arthur said finally.

Remus followed Sirius, who was still carrying Isabelle, and glanced casually around the house. It was a very welcoming house, although cluttered, and Remus decided he liked it very much. He dreamed of having a house this lived in. "Evening Molly," Sirius greeted.

With a warm smile, she bought the pair of them into brief hugs and then offered her arms out for Isabelle. "So, you say she won't wake up?" Molly asked. Her voice was quiet, even though she guessed it wouldn't matter how loud she spoke, because the baby would not wake. Sirius nodded, then looked at Remus. "Have you tried waking her?" she asked.

"Yeah. We did. We didn't want to hurt her though," Sirius replied.

"She's going to have a nasty case of nappy rash, based on that smell. Don't you know how to change her?" Molly said. Sirius' cheeks went pink and he shrugged.

"We didn't have anything to change her into," he mumbled.

"And you haven't fed her?" she asked. Remus answered this time, by shaking his head. Molly sighed and looked over to her husband. "Get me a clean nappy, and an outfit of Ginny's," Ginny was only a few days younger than Isabelle so the clothes would fit well. Arthur did as she said and Molly changed Isabelle quickly – showing the young men how to do it without hurting her. "I'm going to guess she's been put under some sort of charm,"

"A sleeping charm," Arthur agreed. He pushed his glasses up his nose and studied Isabelle carefully.

"Lily always was good at charms," Sirius mumbled sorrowfully. Remus and him shared a sad look and thought about how similar her daughter looked to her. How similar to her she'd grow up to be.

"Should be an easy fix," Molly assured them. She waved her wand, not needing to even say the counter-charm that finally woke Isabelle from her slumber. "There we go," she whispered with a delicate smile. Isabelle, seeing no one familiar and being very hungry, immediately started to cry.

"Make her shh!" Sirius begged.

Looking around curiously, Isabelle stopped crying and instead searched for where the familiar voice had been coming from. "She recognises you!" Remus said triumphantly. He had been too loud though, as Isabelle started to cry again. "Oh, no. Sorry," he said apologetically.

"It doesn't matter, dear," Molly assured him. "You guys take her and try and calm her down. I'll just get her a bottle. She must be starving, poor lamb,"

Molly passed Isabelle to Remus, who looked surprised, and then went off in search for Ginny's formula to feed the baby with. "Hey, it's okay Isabelle," he said softly. Isabelle stopped crying again. She stared up at her uncle Moony with a look of awe in her eyes. "You'll be okay," he promised.

~TOP~

Not long after Remus fed Isabelle and got her back to sleep (this time _not_ using a charm), Sirius and Remus were told to take a seat on the sofa: Molly offered to go and collect a few bits and pieces of Ron's that she didn't want or need for Ginny until they were able to buy clothes. Sirius, now clasping Isabelle closely but lightly to his chest, fell asleep first. Remus followed almost immediately afterwards.

Molly arrived back in the cosy living room only to find all three of them fast asleep. She smiled to herself and carefully removed Isabelle from Sirius' arms: she had given Remus and Sirius a couple of drops of sleeping potion in their drinks, as she had assumed they needed a peaceful rest.

~TOP~

"Moony! She's gone!" Sirius' loud and panic-stricken voice snapped Remus out of his peaceful and dreamless sleep. Remus murmured something under his breath but didn't open his eyes.

"No, she's not!" said a cheeky voice from behind them.

Sirius whipped around and was greeted by George Weasley. Or was it Fred? He never _could_ tell the difference between the Weasley twins. "Alright?" Sirius asked, immediately calming down at the fact that he now remembered they were at the Burrow. Molly had probably put Isabelle in a cot with Ginny to give him and Remus a chance to rest. George (or Fred) nodded and walked gleefully towards Sirius.

"Why's your hair so long?" he asked.

"Uh," Sirius didn't know how to respond. "Guess I'm just lucky," he shrugged.

"Charlie says he wants long hair but mum makes him cut it all the time," the 4-year-old told him. Sirius nodded uncertainly. "Why were you sleeping on our sofa with that man?" he asked.

"Why are you asking me all these silly questions?"

"Why aren't you answering?" George/Fred quipped back. Sirius furrowed his eyebrows and nudged Remus, who had fallen back to sleep. "I saw you in the fireplace yesterday," he said. "You wanted to talk to my mum,"

"Yeah... where is your mum, sport?" Sirius asked him.

"George," the boy replied.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"I'm George. Not sport," George said. Sirius nodded again. He didn't really have time to have an unnecessarily long-winded conversation with a toddler about what his name was. Well, at least he'd guessed which twin he was correctly. "Mum's upstairs with Ginny. And your baby,"

"Okay. Thanks," Sirius replied. He nudged Remus again and mumbled that he was going to go and find Isabelle so that they could thank Molly for her hospitality and then go back to Remus' house. Sirius also wanted to go and talk to Dumbledore about taking Harry in, but he didn't voice this part of the plan. But before he even started to make his way upstairs, Molly walked down, with Isabelle in her arms.

"She's all fed and changed. I've also made a hamper for the pair of you until you can get some of your own stuff. There's a list in there of things I recommend you buy," she explained.

"Thanks ever so much, Mrs Weasley," Sirius said, choosing to call her that, instead of Molly, as a sign of respect and gratitude.

"Molly. Please. And it's not a problem. If you need _anything_ else at all, don't hesitate to get in contact. And that includes babysitting – I've already got 7, what's one more? Her and Ginny are practically the same age so it might be nice for them to have a playmate," Molly replied as she handed Sirius the baby.

Isabelle, who recognised Sirius, immediately started grabbing at his hair, and then giggling when Sirius made faces at her. "Thanks," he said again. He kicked Remus, who finally stirred.

"For what it's worth, I think you two will raise her just fine," Molly told them as Remus stood up and absentmindedly smoothed his bed hair down with his hand. Remus thanked her as well and then took the hamper she'd made for them and the pair of them left with Isabelle giggling at her uncles. Maybe they _could_ do it? Maybe they could raise James and Lily's daughter just fine.

What choice did they have?

* * *

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading, reviews would be greatly appreciated if you have a spare minute or two as I've hit 1,000 views but still only have 8 reviews. It let's me know people are still interested.


	5. The Prophecy Revealed

**A/N:** Here's the next chapter, which has Dumbledore in it. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter Five: The Prophecy Revealed**

Not long after they arrived back at Remus' house, Isabelle needed to be fed again and Remus offered to do it. "You sure?" Sirius asked him. Remus assured him that it was absolutely fine and that Sirius could be on nappy duty instead. "Actually... I've got something to do," he said hesitantly.  
"If you're going to do what I think you're doing..." Remus warned.

"What's that?"

"Kill Wormtail," he replied.

"No," Sirius assured him. "I'm not doing that," _Yet_. He added silently in his head. "I'm going to go and talk to Dumbledore about looking after Harry," he explained. Remus looked uncertain about that idea. "Don't worry, I won't be long and you and Isabelle will get on just fine – like Molly said,"

"That's not what I'm worried about," Remus told him.

"What are you worried about then?"

Remus sighed, not really wanting to say what he was about to say but knowing that it was something the pair of them had to think about. "We're already looking after Isabelle – don't you think it would be too hard for us to look after Harry as well, seeing as he'll be perfectly okay with living with his aunt and uncle?" he said.

Sirius' face instantly hardened. "We promised, Moony," he said.

"I know," Remus replied sadly. "I know what we promised Prongs, but Isabelle will be enough work as it is, without adding in a toddler into the mix," he tried. Sirius looked hurt, but Remus still had more to say on the subject. "And not to mention, I'm a werewolf so completely useless for one week every month which means you'd have to look after two little kids – _magical_ – kids by yourself and that's not fair,"

"I don't mind," Sirius insisted. "If it means keeping our promise to James, I would do anything,"

"Dumbledore might not even let you take Harry," Remus argued.

"What, so I just shouldn't ask?" he snapped. "I'm his godfather, Remus! I have a duty to look after him. You're Izzy's godfather and you're looking after her – I should do the same for Harry. _And_ they should grow up with each other. They're brother and _sister_. They're family, just like we are. The four of us are the only part of the family left,"

Remus couldn't help but sigh again. He understood where Sirius was coming from, of course he did, but there was a big part of him that thought this was a very bad idea. That this was going to be a lot more difficult than either of them expected... but they were family. Sirius was right. Isabelle and Harry... they were family. With no parents but two godfathers who should have been more than willing to do _anything_ for them. "Fine," Remus gave in finally. "Fine. Go to Dumbledore... ask him if we can take Harry too,"

"Not too," Sirius reminded him. "Dumbledore doesn't know Isabelle exists,"

"Just go Padfoot. Before I change my mind,"

~TOP~

Dumbledore was already expecting Sirius Black by the time Sirius had apparated into Hogsmeade and entered the Hogwarts grounds via the passage from the Shrieking Shack. Dumbledore was already expecting Sirius Black when Sirius, wild but determined, burst into his office and started explaining why he was the best guardian for Harry without actually explaining that he was in his office to _become_ Harry's guardian.

"Mr Black," Dumbledore greeted. "Would you like to take a seat?" he offered.

It was typical of Dumbledore to remain calm and collected whilst those around him were frantic and desperate. It was typical of him to encourage his students to sit down, take a breath and slowly explain what it was they wanted.

It was typical, but it still frustrated Sirius.

"A seat?" Sirius muttered. "Would I like to take a – no! No thank you, in fact, I'll tell you what I would like to take: I would _like_ to take my godson away from his muggle aunt and uncle. I would _like_ to take –"

"Slow down, Mr Black. We are not in any grave danger. There is no need to rush. There is no need to raise your voice," Dumbledore interrupted; holding a hand out to stop the frantic young man from talking anymore. Sirius stopped. He glared, but he stopped. "Now," Dumbledore started again. "Would you like to take a seat and explain to me – _calmly_ – the reason for your wild presence in my once quiet office?"

Sirius sat down in a chair that Dumbledore had just conjured and Dumbledore sat behind his desk, his hands touching by their fingers in a wise fashion. "I want Harry," Sirius told him.

"You want Harry," the old man repeated. He was silent for a while: they both were. Sirius wanted to talk – he wanted to _yell_ actually, and shout at Dumbledore to let him take Harry. But he wouldn't, because he respected him and he knew that for now, Dumbledore respected him too. Dumbledore nodded slowly, only once. "And why would you like Harry Potter?" he asked.

"Why do I – why do you _think_ I want Harry? His parents are _dead_ and I'm his godfather!" Sirius had raised his voice again and Dumbledore closed his eyes.

He chose his next words carefully. "You were supposed to be James and Lily's secret keeper,"

Sirius didn't know what he felt in his heart but it was painful. He _knew_ what he was supposed to have been, he _knew_ that it was all his fault that James and Lily were dead, but it hurt him so much to think about it. "They changed their mind. At the last minute, they thought it would be better if Wormtail – _Peter_ – was the secret keeper. _I told them_ that they should change it because You-Know-Who would have guessed that I would know where they were," Sirius explained. "I told them," he repeated sadly.

Dumbledore looked at the wild young man carefully and thought about how to console him. But he was wise enough to know that there is no consoling a person after they lose someone they love. From his experience, condolences and kind words were nice, but didn't help. "Mr Potter was more of a brother to you than your own flesh and blood," Dumbledore replied. Sirius looked up at him, tears daring to fall, and shrugged. "I'm afraid there isn't much I can do for you, Mr Black," he said regretfully.

"What?" his head drooped down. "What do you mean?"

"For reasons that I am still not perfectly clear on, I feel that it is best for young Harry to stay living with his aunt and uncle," Dumbledore explained.

"Not perfectly clear on?!" Sirius copied in a much angrier tone.

"Yes, Mr Black,"

"What, so, because _you_ think you know what's best for Harry, I can't look after him? He's my godson! I have every right to –"

"Mr Black," Dumbledore cut in calmly. Sirius stopped. "If you give me a chance, I would like to explain why I am inclined to believe that this decision is the only decision that will continue to keep Harry safe," with a hard face, Sirius finally nodded. "Thank you," Dumbledore smiled. "It is my belief that Voldemort was willing to spare Lily," even just that sentence hurt Sirius to hear.

"Don't call him that," he muttered.

"Fear of a name only increases fear itself, Mr Black," Dumbledore reminded him. "Because of this, and because Lily chose to disregard Voldemort, she sacrificed herself for Harry. In exchange for her life,"

"I don't get it," Sirius said. "How do you even know she did that? Sacrificed herself?"

"To put it plainly, I do not wish to disclose that information, nor do I think it is fair for the person who told me," Dumbledore replied. Of course, he was referring to the information that a young Severus Snape had relayed to him – Voldemort had told him he'd spare the girl. And the rest was pure conjecture; he could not understand how Harry had not died when struck with the killing curse, he could not understand how Voldemort had been the one hit instead, but what he did know was that it must have had something to do with Lily's sacrifice. He was certain that the only way to protect Harry was to make sure he was living with family.

"Fine," Sirius spat. "When you do work it out – _properly_ – can you let me know?"

"I will let you know only the information that I feel you need to know to understand the situation, Sirius," Dumbledore replied. It was one of the few times he had called Sirius by his first name. Annoyed, Sirius stood up.

"I want to look after him," he told Dumbledore. "So, please – if you can work out a way to make that possible... I would really appreciate it," the thing with Dumbledore, Sirius knew, was that you had to remain calm around him or he didn't respect you as much. You had to act as though you understood what he was saying and why he was saying it even if you were completely clueless.

"I give you my word," Dumbledore agreed with a slow nod of his head.

Sirius went to leave his office and Dumbledore stood. "Thanks," he said.

"Would you like to create a Floo connection between my office and Mr Lupin's house? I expect it would be much quicker than sneaking off the grounds using one of your secret passageways and apparating out of Hogsmeade," Dumbledore offered.

"Uh," Sirius muttered. He had a few questions like: how did Dumbledore know about the passageways? And how had he known he was staying at Remus'? And if he knew _that stuff_ , was it possible he knew about Isabelle? Sirius decided, that no, Dumbledore didn't know about Isabelle. He would have said something to him otherwise. "No. It's okay, I want to walk for a bit,"

"Of course," Dumbledore replied. "I understand perfectly – solitude is sometimes the only way to process loss. Goodbye, Mr Black, send my condolences to Mr Lupin, if you would."

* * *

 **A/N:** Hope you liked the chapter, I would appreciate any reviews you leave. I also hope I got Dumbledore's personality in alright, he was quite hard to write for. Thanks!


	6. A Necessary Sacrifice

**A/N:** There's a slight time-jump in this chapter, it goes forward almost exactly a year, just so I could get the plot moving. That means Isabelle is nearly 1 and a half and James and Lily have been dead almost exactly a year. The date is 01/11/1982. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter Six: A Necessary Sacrifice**

The next year came and went as if nothing had happened between Voldemort and the Potters. Soon, Remus, Sirius and Isabelle got into a routine and Isabelle flourished just as well with her two uncles as she would have with James and Lily. She conquered walking unaided by 12 months and grew up saying "Moony" instead of mummy and "Paddy" instead of daddy.

Every full moon, Remus would go off to the woods about 5 miles down the road from his house and leave Sirius in charge of Isabelle for the night and then spend the next few days recovering, with Isabelle playing calmly at the end of his bed.

She was a very calm child, a very mellow girl, which Remus appreciated and Sirius loathed: how had Isabelle become so much like Moony and nothing like him? He often spent the time he had alone with her encouraging her to pull pranks on "Uncle Moony" and wreak havoc in their house. When he tried to overexcite her by transforming into his dog form, Isabelle just made funny faces at him and laughed. She wasn't a prankster, and Sirius felt he had done his best mate a disservice by not raising her to be one.

"She's 1, Padfoot," Remus constantly assured him, although he was grateful that she hadn't yet been tempted to become a trickster. "I'm sure she'll learn how to prank in due course,"

"Maybe we're being _too lenient_ on her? Maybe we should be strict and then she'll feel the need to rebel and get into trouble," Sirius suggested. Remus sighed to himself and continued to read the front page of the Daily Prophet: the Brazilian National Team had ended up coming 2nd in the Quidditch World Cup.

"Like I said," Remus said slowly. "She's only a baby, give her a chance to be fully influenced by you. She's got a combination of Lily and James in her – she's going to be up to no good sooner or later,"

"You hear that, Iz? Even Uncle Moony believes you can prank. Don't let him down," Sirius told her.

Isabelle laughed and pointed at him. "Doggy," she insisted.

A few hours later, it was time for Remus to head out to the woods to let the full moon do its job. He dreaded this night every month, constantly anxious that he would end up hurting someone. As always, Sirius had offered to transform into his Animagus and accompany Remus for the night, and as always, Remus had refused; insisting that looking after Isabelle was more important. Sirius always attempted to persuade him, stating that Molly would be more than willing to help out (as everyone in the Order had known about Remus' werewolf problem) but Remus thought a routine at night was more important for Isabelle.

Remus had been gone for about half an hour when Sirius decided to make her some dinner. But he was distracted and ended up making so much mess that soon, he had just given Isabelle some chocolate because she was fussing so much as he had taken such a long time.

"Uncle Moony has a lot of bad things said about him," Sirius told her and she chomped loudly and happily on her chocolate frog.

"Moony outside," Isabelle told him.

"Yeah," he smiled at her. He wiped her face clean of chocolate and sat her on his lap. "Don't listen to what _anyone_ says about Moony unless it's good stuff," he told her. "Moony is the kindest, most compassionate man you'll ever meet and he'll support you no matter what," Isabelle wasn't really listening, she was playing with Sirius' hair, which was one of her favourite toys. "Uncle Moony may be a werewolf Iz, but he's the nicest werewolf you'll ever meet,"

Isabelle looked up curiously at these words. "Werewolf?" she copied.

Of course, she was too young to know what a werewolf was and the sort of stigma that surrounded them and how badly it had affected Remus' life due to discrimination. Thinking about the way Remus was treated by certain people who knew what he was made Sirius angry. It wasn't fair and he was going to ensure Isabelle knew that. "Moony will protect you, no matter what, he'll tell you all about Harry and your parents, when you're ready, and he'll be the nicest dad-uncle you could ever ask for," Sirius promised. He sighed, and hugged the little girl who looked so much like Lily, tightly. He was going to miss her, but sacrificing his uncle duty to do this was necessary. He knew it was a necessary sacrifice.

"Prickly, prickly. Stop Paddy!" Isabelle giggled. Sirius stopped hugging her, stood up and brought her up to his shoulders so she could sit on them as he took her upstairs to have a bath. As he raced up the stairs, Isabelle laughed in glee. She didn't know it yet, but she would miss her Uncle Paddy.

Someone knocked on the door only a couple of minutes after Sirius had wrapped a towel around a freshly washed Isabelle. He sighed. The time had come. "Paddy loves you, Iz – always remember that," he whispered as he went downstairs; carrying Isabelle in her towel.

"Paddy loves Issybel," Isabelle repeated.

"I do. I always will," Sirius promised. He opened the front door and smiled at who it was. "Thanks so much for doing this Andy," he mumbled; letting his cousin Andromeda into the house.

"Whatcha Sirius!" Andromeda's 10 year old daughter grinned. "Look at how cute she is!" she cooed at Isabelle. "Can I hold her?" she asked Sirius.

"Nymphadora!" Andromeda warned. "Behave," she turned to Sirius. "Go and do what needs to be done,"

"It's _Tonks_ , mum!" Tonks whined. She detested her 1st name.

"You're a life saver," Sirius mumbled; giving his cousin a quick hug. "Remus should be back by morning, but he might be exhausted. Try not to mention what I'm doing until he's at least had a little sleep. Just say I had an errand to run, although he'll probably work out what I went to do anyway," he kissed Isabelle on the nose. "Be good, alright?" he said to her. "Say bye-bye,"

"Bye-bye," Isabelle copied, giving him a little wave.

"Bye-bye," Sirius repeated sadly. He didn't want to do what he was about to do, but he knew he needed to. He _had to_. With one last kiss on Isabelle's forehead, Sirius turned out the house and shut the door behind him; not knowing when the next time he would see her or that house would be and being distraught by that fact.

* * *

 **A/N:** Can I just point out that yes, I looked up when the full moon was in November of 1982 and yes, the Brazilian National Team did actually come 2nd in the Quidditch World Cup that year, according to Pottermore. I am dedicated to random canon facts! Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the chapter. I feel like it's quite obvious was Sirius is about to do - what are your thoughts on that? Do you wish he'd stayed put and lived a happy life with Remus and Isabelle? Or are you glad he's doing what he's doing? Please review if you have a spare minute, it would be appreciated.


	7. Remus' Realisation

**A/N:** Here's the next chapter. I hadn't actually planned for all this to happen in the following chapter, it wasn't going to be anywhere near as detailed about Remus and Isabelle's morning, but the words kept flowing. I ended up moving the scene that was going to happen in this chapter to the following chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter Seven: Remus' Realisation**

At 6 o'clock the following morning, an exhausted Remus walked through the front door and only just managed to make it up the stairs and into his bedroom before he stumbled into bed; passed out. His transformation always tired him out, but for some reason, he was even more shattered than usual. He slept in a dreamless state for nearly 3 hours but Andromeda needed to leave at 9 am so had to wake him up. She sent Tonks to do this task.

Tonks, like her cousin Sirius, never missed an opportunity to play tricks on people and annoy them without doing any actual harm. So, she walked into Remus' room, plonked Isabelle onto his bed and pulled open his curtains quickly. The bright sun shone through the windows and Remus complained; pressing his spare pillow over his face to block some of it out. "Padfoot," he whined. He was exhausted.

"Mum said we have to go so you have to look after your own baby," Tonks told him. Isabelle had crawled over to Remus and was now poking his cheek, asking him to play peek-a-boo with her.

Remus opened his eyes at the girl's voice and narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Where's Sirius?" he asked.

Tonks shrugged. "We've been babysitting all night," she replied. "So, is it okay if mum and I leave now?"

"Yeah," Remus said, distracted. He was suddenly feeling a lot more alert. Tonks said bye and skipped out of the room, bumping into the door frame as she lost her footing slightly.

Remus immediately stood up, forcing himself to ignore the pounding in his head and the dizziness he was feeling. Sirius had gone somewhere last night and he still wasn't back yet... that wasn't good at all. When Sirius left without telling Remus, it meant he was doing something Remus had specifically told him not to. "Moony, Issy's hungry," Isabelle told him.

"Didn't you have breakfast?" he asked.

"No..." she said with a little pout. Remus did not believe her for one second. "I want choccy," Isabelle had a habit of pretending to be hungry so that she could get chocolate from one or both of her uncles. Often, she would tell Sirius or Remus that the other had not fed her anything yet and then whine until they gave in and let her have some sort of sweet treat. Sirius always fell for the act, while Remus was almost always dubious.

"It's too early for choccy," Remus replied. He pulled on a pair of trousers and attempted to brush his hair down.

"Where's Paddy?" Isabelle asked him.

"I don't know..." he mumbled. Isabelle held her arms out for Remus to pick her up and he did so. "Let's go downstairs," he said. "Maybe we can work out where Paddy has gotten to," he walked slowly down the stairs, still aching from the night before, and more exhausted than when he had gotten home, even though he'd had a couple of hours sleep. He figured it had something to do with his worrying about Sirius.

"Issy need choccy?" Isabelle suggested once Remus sat her down in the living room.

"Not right now," Remus replied firmly. Andromeda and Tonks were still collecting all their stuff and packing. Well, Andromeda was doing that, Tonks had just knocked off a pile of magazines and newspapers off of the coffee table – half were Sirius' monthly editions of 'The Quibbler' and half were Remus' ever-growing collection of 'The Daily Prophet'.

"I'm sorry to wake you so soon – Ted was planning on going to his mother's house by himself but she wants to see Dora," Andromeda said.

"That's quite alright," Remus assured her. "Did Sirius say where he was going?" he asked.

"No, sorry he didn't mention it. I assumed he told you?" she replied. Remus shook his head but tried not to worry. His mind wandered off for about a second before he saw Tonks sneaking Isabelle a sugar quill. He raised an eyebrow in Isabelle's direction and she immediately hid her now very sticky hands behind her back. Andromeda followed Remus' gaze. "Dora, what are you doing?" she asked suspiciously.

"Nothing!" Tonks insisted.

"Nymphadora..." she warned.

"Don't worry Andy, I think Isabelle's to blame for this particular incident. I've said it's too early for chocolate and she's determined to get some," Remus explained, trying to keep his amusement out of his tone.

"Choccy?" Isabelle asked, looking back at her Uncle Moony.

"No. No choccy for Izzy," he repeated. Isabelle pouted, then seemed to remember the sugar quill in her hand and began to suck on it happily. She grinned cheekily at her uncle.

"We'll see you soon, Remus," Andromeda said.

"Yes. Thanks ever so much for looking after Isabelle," he replied. They said their farewells and left, Tonks failing to leave without knocking over the shoe rack and delaying the pair by a couple of minutes whilst Andromeda flicked her wand to fix her daughter's mistake. As she did this, she mumbled something about Tonks' clumsiness.

"All done," Isabelle told Remus. She had finished her sugar quill and was now reaching down to the floor to grab the closest copy of 'The Quibbler' which had a particularly bright photograph of Nargles, whatever, _they_ were. "Oops," she mumbled with a giggle. Remus glanced at her: she had managed to get the pages stuck to the palm of her hand because of how sticky her fingers were from the sweet treat Tonks had smuggled to her.

"Oh, Izzy," Remus sighed, although he was smiling. With a flick of his wand, a sprinkle of water came out one end and he used it to wipe her hands and face clean. "What do you say?" he asked; reminding her to say thank you.

"Choccy now?" Isabelle tried again.

Remus laughed. "You say thank you," he reminded her. "And I told you – no choccy,"

"Thank you Moony," she repeated slowly. An owl carrying his subscription of the 'Daily Prophet' tapped on the glass with its beak. "Owly!" Isabelle shrieked with glee. She wondered over, slightly unbalanced because she was still quite new to walking, and held her hand out. The owl stared at her in what seemed like judgement, at the ludicrous idea that this child thought he would let her pet him like a common animal, rather than a post-owl.

Remus gave the owl 4 little bronze knuts. He pecked at his finger. "Ouch," he muttered. The owl waited expectantly for more money. "The price has gone up," he told Izzy, who could not have been any less interested in the price. She was still holding her arm out.

"Owly," she repeated stubbornly.

"You can't pet him. He won't let you," Remus warned her. Isabelle didn't seem to care. Remus sighed and gave her another one of his bronze coins out of the jar of small change on the bookshelf. "Be careful," he told her.

Isabelle grinned as Remus lifted her up and she held her hand open with the coin. The owl stared at her. "Take money, owly!" she ordered.

"You have to put it in the pouch," Remus said. So, Isabelle dropped the coin carefully into the little leather pouch tied securely onto the owl's leg and then held her hand out again. The owl looked at her with a curious expression, then bent his head down, allowing her to pet him. Isabelle, looking triumphant, did so gently.

"Bye-bye owly," she said as the owl flew back out of the window. She waved at him as Remus unfolded the newspaper.

His heart plummeted at the front page. It was an image he recognised from his Hogwarts days, not many years before, and it made his stomach hurt. He read and re-read the heading:

 _Four Friends, Now Foes?_

It was a picture of him, Sirius, James and Peter, all grinning, all joking around and laughing at something one of them – probably James – had just said before the photo had been snapped. In the moving photograph, Sirius was also waving. Remus skimmed the article but found he could only read the first paragraph before his nausea blurred his vision.

 _On the anniversary of Lily and James Potter's deaths, old friends Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew were spotted duelling in a muggle street in London late last night. "You may say duelling," says Minister for Magic, Millicent Bagnold tells us. "But the poor Pettigrew boy had no chance against young maniac Sirius Black," it has been reported that Black killed no fewer than 12 muggles with a single curse, which also led to the complete annihilation of Mr Pettigrew. All that remains is his finger..._

 _Since the deaths of Mr and Mrs Potter last Halloween, leading to the downfall of You-Know-Who, there were suspicions about how their secret hideout was discovered. Rumours flew and now one has been confirmed: Sirius Black betrayed them to He-Who-Must-Not... continues on page 7._

"Isabelle," Remus said seriously. Isabelle glanced up at her uncle curiously. She had never heard that tone from him before. "Get your coat please," he said. Isabelle did as he said, but only because she didn't know why he was speaking like that. Like he was very sad.

"Where are we going?" Isabelle asked as Remus slipped her shoes on her feet and buttoned up her coat.

"We're going to a very powerful man called Albus Dumbledore. We have to save Paddy,"

* * *

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! Do you think Dumbledore will be able to help Sirius out? What do you even think Remus is going to ask him to do? I ended up researching a few different things for this chapter -I had no idea who the Minister for magic was in 1982, and I also didn't know when the Quibbler started but I couldn't find that information online so I thought I would add it. I feel like Sirius may have enjoyed it, for irony's sake, if anything. Reviews would be much appreciated.


	8. Dumbledore Finds Out

**A/N:** Dumbledore returns in this chapter and explains some things to Remus. Hope you enjoy it.

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 **Chapter Eight: Dumbledore Finds Out**

Dumbledore was alone in his office when there was a sharp knock on his door. "Enter," he called. The door opened and in entered McGonagall, followed by a very frantic-looking Remus Lupin. He was carrying a child. "Mr Lupin. I was expecting you. Thank you, Minerva."

"Sir – Sirius didn't do it! They changed the Secret Keeper last minute – _Peter_ was their Secret Keeper!" Remus started as soon as McGonagall had closed the office door.

"Mr Lupin, please. Take a seat. Would your... child... care for a snack?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"Choccy?" Isabelle asked innocently. She giggled at Remus when he looked at her, exhausted. He had completely forgotten that he was supposed to be hiding Isabelle's existence from Dumbledore, and now he'd brought her right to him.

"No, choccy, Izzy – you've eaten enough sugar today," Remus sighed. Isabelle pretended to pout and he sat her down on the floor. "Professor, sorry for just barging in like this but Sirius is innocent."

"Paddy?"

"Izzy, shh," Remus said gently. He sat gratefully into the chair that Dumbledore had conjured and picked Isabelle up again. She sat happily in his lap and Dumbledore looked curiously at the pair of them. "Sirius didn't betray Lily and James," Remus said. "They decided to change their Secret Keeper to Peter Pettigrew because they thought You-Know-Who wouldn't realise," Dumbledore nodded curiously and conjured up a toy wand. He passed it to Isabelle, who took it cautiously. "Say thank-you, Isabelle."

"Thank you," she mumbled without looking back up at the old man.

"Mr Black went after Mr Pettigrew a few hours ago," Dumbledore told Remus. Remus nodded hesitantly. "Do you think what the Daily Prophet is saying is true?" he asked. "Do you think Sirius killed 12 muggles and destroyed Mr Pettigrew? In revenge."

"I..." Remus sighed. "I don't know what to think. I doubt Sirius would hurt 12 innocent muggles just to get revenge," he said.

Dumbledore nodded slowly and stood up. "Mr Potter was like a brother to the both of you," he stated.

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess but that doesn't mean Sirius killed Peter," Remus replied. "I know he was angry, but... but 12 innocent people? Sirius isn't like the rest of his family."

"If I am correct, it was the full moon yesterday, was it not?" Dumbledore asked. Isabelle leant backwards into Remus, who had tensed up. He pulled her close and she snuggled up against him. Remus nodded reluctantly. Dumbledore hadn't needed an answer, as the exhaustion etched onto Remus' face was enough of an answer. "Why do you think Mr Black waited until a full moon to go to Mr Pettigrew?" he asked the young man.

"Because I asked him not to," Remus replied quietly.

"And why did you do that? Did you think Mr Black may have been capable of killing your old friend?" Dumbledore asked him. Remus did not say anything, but his sadness answered Dumbledore's question.

"He wouldn't have killed 12 other people as well," Remus argued.

"He did so with a single curse," Dumbledore said. "Perhaps he did not realise how angry he was and accidentally put too much power into one curse? I have known that to happen."

Remus deflated and stroked Isabelle's messy red hair, which he hadn't even had a chance to brush yet because he had been in such a rush to get to Dumbledore. "Right," he mumbled softly.

"Do you think the anger in Mr Black was enough to kill more than just the person he set out to kill?" Dumbledore asked. Yet again, Remus did not answer, and yet again, his expression alone was answer enough for the older man. "Mr Black has been sentenced to life in Azkaban without trial."

"No!" Remus insisted.

"The Ministry has never trusted him. Never truly believed he was different from any other Black, and this situation proves to them that they were right," Dumbledore informed him. Remus shook his head and squeezed Isabelle ever closer to him. Dumbledore seemed to remember that there was a child in Remus' lap again.

"That's not fair," Remus muttered.

"I did try and dissuade the Minister from this," Dumbledore promised. "And I will continue to try and persuade the Ministry to reconsider, or at least give Mr Black a trial."

Remus nodded, looking down at Isabelle so as to hide his teary eyes from Dumbledore. "Thank you," he whispered. Isabelle, thinking Remus was talking to her, lifted her head and saw that her Uncle Moony was sad. She held her finger out and pressed it into his cheek.

"Moony sad?" she asked quietly.

"I'm fine, Izzy," Remus lied. In his lap, Isabelle stood up and hugged him. He hugged her back. Dumbledore stood up and went to a large cabinet in the corner of his office. He took something out – a cloak – and passed it to Remus.

"My age must be having more of a toll on me than I realised," Dumbledore said with a hint of amusement.

"Excuse me?" Remus asked.

Dumbledore motioned at the cloak and returned to his chair. "I assume you know what this is?" he asked. Remus nodded hesitantly – James' invisibility cloak. "Mr Potter let me borrow it shortly before Voldemort killed him and Ms Evans. I think it only right for it to be passed down the Potter line."

Remus winced at the name Voldemort but didn't say anything. "Why are you giving it to me?" he asked. He knew the answer already.

"Most things don't get past me, but the existence of a second Potter child must have slipped through the cracks of my old age," Dumbledore smiled sadly. He nodded at Isabelle, who had now sat back in Remus' lap and was playing with the toy wand again.

"Are you going to take her away?" Remus asked him, not wanting the answer, in case it was the one he suspected.

"I think enough has been taken away from you already, Mr Lupin."

Remus felt relief and warmth flood through him but merely nodded. "A-and what about Harry?" he asked quietly.

Dumbledore sighed regretfully. "As I explained to Mr Black almost exactly a year ago, I have my suspicions that Harry must stay with his muggle aunt and uncle."

"Why?" Remus asked. "If-if you don't mind telling me."

Smiling, Dumbledore nodded. "I believe that when Voldemort killed Ms Evans, he unknowingly created a bond between Harry and his mother, making it impossible for the killing curse to hurt him. I also think this is why Voldemort has now disappeared. It is my belief that in order for Harry to remain safe, he must stay with someone who shares his mother's blood. Therefore, he must stay with his aunt – Lily's sister," Dumbledore explained.

"But... Isabelle has Lily's blood," Remus tried.

"That's true and it is something I never considered, as I did not know of Isabelle's existence but I still don't believe it is enough of a bond. I feel that the relatives young Harry stays with must consider Ms Evans as family, which Isabelle clearly does not. _You_ are Isabelle's family, Mr Lupin," Dumbledore replied. "Ms Evans, most regretfully, will never be a mother for Isabelle in the same way that she was a sister for Mrs Dursley."

"Petunia and Lily hated each other," Remus argued.

"Not as much as you may have been led to believe," he replied. "I'm afraid that this is the only option. Harry will continue to call his aunt and uncle's house, home, and Isabelle shall remain with you. Her godfather."

Remus sighed and tried to ignore the heavy feeling in his heart. "I don't know if that's a good idea," he muttered.

"And why not?" Dumbledore asked. "I hope you aren't saying this because of your werewolf condition."

"It's not a condition!" Remus snapped. It was the first time he'd lost his temper at him, and he was surprised that it had taken him so long to get angry. "I'm a monster. For one night every month, I'm a monster and for nearly a week after, I'm useless. I am no good for Isabelle."

At the mention of her name from her uncle, she looked up at him and gave him a big grin. Remus pulled her close and stroked her hair. "From where I am sitting, I am inclined to disagree, Mr Lupin."

"You don't understand," Remus argued.

"Maybe I don't understand the pain of becoming a werewolf, and of becoming responsible for a young child – but what I do understand is how much it will disrupt Isabelle if you decide to separate yourself from her," Dumbledore replied. "And I also understand that Mrs Weasley has expressed willingness to babysit Miss Potter whenever you need her to."

"Sir-"

"Oh. That reminds me, I think it best if she takes your last name. Just so the fame of the Potter name doesn't get to her head. Good day, Mr Lupin, please close the door on your way out," Dumbledore finished. Speechless, Remus stood up and walked to exit Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore nodded at him and smiled one last time. "Make sure she uses that cloak well."

* * *

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! How do you think Remus and Isabelle will cope with just each other? And do you think Remus will accept that he can't look after Harry? Please review if you have a spare minute.


	9. The Legend of Harry Potter

**I know it's been nearly a year since I wrote anything for this. I will eventually finish it, that much I know. Even if it looks abandoned, it isn't. I have it all planned out but I've just not been writing much and I've had a tonne of school to do and other things. I have a lot of fanfics half-written but I made a promise to myself that no matter how long it takes, they'll be finished.**

 **I realised I didn't want to faff about writing about Isabelle's life with Remus, as I just wanted to get into the proper story. So, this is set about a year before Harry is due to start Hogwarts. He, obviously, doesn't know about magic yet but that is soon all about to change.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter Nine: The Legend of Harry Potter**

The past eight years had flown by and Isabelle was nearing her 9th birthday. Her and Remus had managed to survive with Sirius being in Azkaban and now Sirius was a mere memory in Isabelle's mind – Remus had decided that she didn't need to remember Sirius as all it would do is upset her. He was ashamed to admit that he blamed himself for what Sirius had done – for the murder of 12 innocent muggles. No, he didn't mind about the death of Wormtail and some part of him was glad he was gone, but Sirius' untamed anger towards Wormtail, which Remus had failed to suppress, was the reason for innocent muggles dying.

"Children! Gather round, gather round," Fred Weasley called from the back of the Weasley garden.

"Stop calling us children!" Ron insisted.

"We aren't that much younger than you," Ginny agreed.

"Yes, but, my dear baby brother and sister, you three aren't coming to Hogwarts anytime soon, are you? That makes you children," George said.

"You aren't at Hogwarts yet either," Isabelle said. Despite all their arguments, Ron, Ginny and Isabelle were making their way towards the twins. Fred and George put an arm each around Isabelle.

"But Ms Lupin," George said.

"We're going in September," Fred finished for him. "Now, do you three want to hear this story or not?"

"We aren't babies – we don't want to be told a story," Ginny said.

"Oh, but Ginevra – this isn't any old story. _This_ is the legend of Harry Potter – the boy who lived." As he spoke, George made dramatic hand gestures.

"That's a rubbish one!" Ginny said.

"Yeah, we already know that," Isabelle agreed, moving out from under the twins' arms. It was true – witch and wizard children all over the world knew who Harry Potter was – but the three young children didn't know the whole truth. Fred and George had only learnt about it last night, when Remus had dropped Isabelle off ready for the full moon. Fred had overheard Molly and Remus talking and had heard his name – Harry Potter. He had rushed to get George and the pair listened in as their mother and the werewolf talked long and hard about everything that had happened that night. The last thing they heard Remus saying was asking Molly for advice – he didn't know whether he should tell Isabelle himself or wait for her to find out when she started Hogwarts.

"Find out what?" Fred and George had mouthed to each other, wide-eyed and even more curious now.

"What does Dumbledore say?" Molly had asked.

"He thinks she shouldn't know. But this is her brother we're talking about. Harry and Izzy have a right to know the truth about what happened that night. They deserve to know about each other."

And now, Fred and George were going to tell her. They agreed with Remus – Izzy _should_ know – but their mother had somehow persuaded Remus to wait until she started at Hogwarts; where she would finally meet Harry.

"But you don't know the _full story_ ," George said mysteriously.

"What's to know?" Ron asked with a mouthful of chocolate frog. Ginny looked at him disapprovingly for being disgusting.

"Harry Potter vanquished You-Know-Who. That's the end of it," she said.

"No, Ginny, it wasn't the end of it. The story of how You-Know-Who died is ancient legend –" George said.

"It's hardly ancient. It happened 9 years ago," Isabelle argued.

George ignored her. "– Filled with secrets, a betrayal, and a girl no one knows exists."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ginny asked.

"Well, if you three didn't keep interrupting, you'd know by now," Fred said. So, Ron, Isabelle and Ginny sat on the grass, hidden by the big cherry blossom tree in the garden. Fred and George sat too, so they were sitting in a circle. "On a dark and stormy Halloween night –"

"You don't know that," Ginny said.

"Ginny, don't make me banish you," Fred threatened.

George spoke this time. "It was a dark and stormy Halloween night. The Potter family were at home – in a secret location that only their secret keeper was allowed to disclose. That secret keeper? He went by the name of Wormtail."

"That's not a name," Isabelle said.

"It's a _code name_ , Izzy!" George snapped.

"You-Know-Who was after the Potters so they were hidden from him. The only way for him to find them would be if their secret keeper betrayed them. Otherwise, they would be safe," Fred continued.

"He betrayed them?" Isabelle gasped.

If either of his siblings had been the one to spoil his story, Fred would have made a fuss but because it was Isabelle, and this story was also hers, he allowed it. "He did," he said. "He switched sides. You-Know-Who came to the house Halloween 1981 and murdered James Potter with a flick of his wand."

"You don't know he was first," Ron argued.

"We do, actually," George said. "He went upstairs and then murdered Lily Potter, whilst baby Harry watched from his crib. All Harry saw was a flash of green light. He started to cry. He didn't like this cloaked figure."

"I don't like this story," Isabelle murmured. She didn't. It reminded her of a nightmare she sometimes had.

"Shh!" Ginny and Ron said at the same time.

"You-Know-Who pointed his wand at the baby and muttered the spell that would destroy him," George said.

"Only," Fred started. "Instead of Harry dying, the curse backfired and hit You-Know-Who. He was dead! Destroyed by a little boy. Someone came to pick Harry Potter up. They had seen the house in ruins and gone in – finding it odd that there was no dark mark above the house. What they saw shocked them. Little Harry crying in his crib. They notified the Ministry and Harry was taken to live with Muggle relatives. That was the end of it."

"Except, it wasn't," George added. "Because what no one knew was that in Harry's wardrobe, was a little baby girl, sleeping peacefully. Charmed to not wake up until it was over. That little girl was called Isabelle Potter. Because she wasn't discovered by the Ministry, she was able to live with a friend of the Potter's. A werewolf called Remus Lupin."

"Shut up, George," Ginny said. "That's not funny." They all knew that Remus wasn't Izzy's blood relative so it wasn't nice to tease about that.

"Oh, we aren't joking," George said.

"We heard mum and Remus talking about it last night," Fred said. The twins looked at Isabelle, who hadn't spoken or moved. She didn't make any indication to show she had understood what they were telling her. But she understood it, alright. She understood _exactly_ what they were saying.

"You would have been a legend if people knew you existed," George said to Isabelle.

"A legend like Harry Potter," Fred continued.

"Two babies who faced You-Know-Who and lived to tell the tale," George finished.

" _What_ on earth is going on here?!" Molly Weasley shrieked. She had wanted help in the kitchen and realised that 4 of her children and Isabelle were nowhere to be found. What she had walked in on was something that made her face pale. How had Fred and George known enough about that story to rehash a slightly confused version to Ron, Ginny and the girl who _definitely_ shouldn't have found out about it?

The 3 youngest jumped at the shouting but Fred and George just smiled cheekily. "Oh, hi mum," George said.

"We were just telling the children about the legend of Harry Potter," Fred said.

"Who was a right legend," George added with a wink at Isabelle. She attempted a smile.

"Get inside. All of you. Isabelle, sweetheart, come with me. I'm so sorry you had to... well, I'm sorry," Molly said. The four Weasleys rushed inside before their mum could shout anymore.

"What did Fred and George mean? Am I _really_ Harry Potter's sister?" Isabelle asked.

"It's not really my place to say, Izzy," she said. "Listen, your dad is on his way. He'll explain it all to you properly, okay?" All Isabelle could do was nod her head numbly.

* * *

 **Please review if you enjoyed and have time :)**


	10. The Boy Who Lived

**So... the last chapter got a couple of reviews which really made me laugh. People were getting angry at Remus which I guess is fine, to each their own... but Remus wasn't really even in the chapter? He was barely mentioned. I guess because he is choosing to let Harry live with the Dursleys whilst looking after Izzy. And as for people hating Dumbledore – yeah, alright, I get that. But to be fair, he seems to think he's looking after Harry.**

 **That doesn't mean stuff won't change though – now Izzy knows about Harry, she's going to try and find him and she may try to change the living arrangements...**

 **Enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

 **Chapter Ten: The Boy Who Lived**

"I'm so sorry, Remus," Molly said to him after she explained the situation. "I should have been keeping a closer eye on them... I don't even know how the boys found out –"

"Molly, it's fine," Remus assured her. "The twins were probably eavesdropping on our conversation like they are now." At that, Fred pushed George and the pair fell out from the pantry, where they had been hiding.

"Fred!" George snapped. They both looked guiltily up at Remus.

"Run along, boys," Molly snapped at them. "Remus, I'm so sorry about them. One of these days..." she trailed off, a threatening look on her face.

"Sorry mum," George said.

"We didn't realise it was a secret," Fred finished.

"Fred, the door was shut. If the door is shut, you can assume that what's being said is a private matter," Molly said. "And you can assume that whatever you overhear is _not_ to be repeated."

"One should never assume, mum" said Fred.

"Yeah, it makes an ass of you and me," George smiled.

"Particularly _you_ in this case."

"Fred!" Molly warned. The twins scarpered off out of the kitchen and back into the garden. "Remus, I don't know what to say..." she started once she made sure Fred and George hadn't crept back to listen again.

Remus shook his head. "You don't need to say anything, Molly, honestly. I should have been truthful with Isabelle from the start but I just couldn't do it. I didn't want to have to explain it all to her – about Peter and Sirius and how everything happened. I knew she would find out though. I guess part of me hoped that she would never find out the full truth. But look at her, Molly, she's the spitting image of her mother – no doubt the teachers would have said something about it to her."

He was sick with worry. Well, he felt ill but he thought that may be a combination of the full moon last night and the fact that Isabelle now knew only half the story about what had really happened to her family. He had always explained that he had been friends with her parents and that they'd died when she was a baby – she had never asked how and he had never given her that information.

Now, Remus knew, everything was about to change. Isabelle and Ginny stood in the kitchen doorway, watching Molly and Remus. "Hello, Ginny. You ready to go, Iz?" Remus asked. Isabelle could tell from his voice that he was exhausted from the night before.

"Is what Fred and George said true?" Ginny asked.

"Ginny, go and finish your summer project," Molly scolded.

"No, it's okay, Molly. It's only natural that they have questions," he said. He looked at Isabelle. "Yes, Isabelle. What Fred and George said is true. You are the daughter of James and Lily Potter. Now, shall we get going? I promise to tell you everything once we get home."

"Why didn't you tell me before?" she asked.

"I'll explain that too," Remus promised. Ginny and Isabelle shared a look. "You can tell Ginny all about it the next time you see her." Isabelle nodded. "Alright, let's get going then."

Remus and Isabelle walked to the battered and run-down car that was sitting patiently outside The Burrow. Remus had bought a very old car shortly after Sirius had been arrested and it had somehow managed to not fall apart in the last eight years, although it constantly looked like it was about to give up. Remus had expected Isabelle to bombard him with all sorts of questions as soon as they started the drive home but she seemed like she was in her own world.

Finally, they got home and Isabelle realised something: she didn't want to know. She didn't think she could bare listening to her dad describe the story of Harry Potter now; not when it involved her. Her and her brother. All she wanted was an explanation of why she didn't know him.

"Shall we sit at the table?" Remus offered. Isabelle looked at her dad and sighed. He looked so exhausted – Fred and George telling the story of the boy who lived had caused Molly to get her dad to pick her up early and now he hadn't rested after his probably very long night being a werewolf. "Izzy, come on, I owe you an explanation, okay? You can ask me anything you want and I'll try and answer it all."

"Did you actually know my parents?" she asked as she sat opposite him at the table.

"Yes," he replied with a sad smile. "I became friends with your dad in our first year at Hogwarts and was always friendly with your mum but we didn't become proper friends until they became a couple." Isabelle nodded but didn't say anything. She wondered if Remus would continue, but he didn't seem to want to.

"And Harry? Did you know him?" she asked.

Her dad nodded. "I knew Harry _and_ you as babies. I promised James that if anything happened to him and your mum, that I would look after Harry and you."

"But that means you broke your promise," Izzy said. "Why didn't you want to keep Harry?"

"It's hard to explain... after everything that happened with your mum and dad, and You-Know-Who, it was safer for Harry to stay with his family," Remus said.

Isabelle stood up. " _I'm_ his family!"

"I know Izzy, I meant his Muggle family. His aunt and uncle."

"Why didn't I go and live with them?"

"Because you didn't need to. The risk wasn't the same as it was for Harry –"

"I don't care! He's my brother, I didn't even get to decide if I stayed with him," Isabelle shouted; she was starting to lose her temper at the injustice of it all.

"You were just a baby, Iz – you and Harry were just babies."

"Yeah! So? It wasn't fair that we didn't get to choose!" Isabelle shoved the chair and it fell over with a clatter.

"Isabelle Lily Lupin–"

"It's _Potter!"_

That stung Remus but he managed not to change his facial expression. He took a breath. "Izzy, if you don't calm down –!"

"Where is he? Do you know where Harry is? I want to meet him," Isabelle insisted.

"It's not as simple as that," Remus tried.

"Do you know where he is?" Izzy asked again.

"No."

Isabelle, eyes blazing and her temper finally matching her fiery red hair, stormed away from her dad, not wanting to talk to him anymore. Not even wanting to look at the man who had dumped her brother, or taken her from her aunt and uncle. Not wanting to look at the man who had never told her the truth about her family. No, she hadn't asked – but she hadn't realised she needed to. Surely it was his responsibility to tell her that her parents had been murdered by an evil wizard? And surely it was his responsibility to make sure he always knew where Harry was, even if he seemed to think Isabelle didn't need to know about him? _Especially_ when he had promised her parents – no, _their_ parents – that he would look after both of them. It was in that moment – as Isabelle slammed her door and started to cry for the brother she had never known – that she vowed to find him.

No matter what the consequences were.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next one should be up in the next couple of days. Please review letting me know your thoughts :)**


	11. Diagon Alley Antics

**This chapter is slightly shorter I think, but I'm going on holiday tomorrow for five days and I wanted to update before I left. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter Eleven: Diagon Alley Antics**

Remus decided to let Isabelle stay in her room angry for a while. He was exhausted from his night awake and hadn't had much of a chance to rest before Molly had called him to pick Isabelle up. Besides, he understood why she was so angry at what he'd said – he hated everything about what had happened with Harry and, of course, with Sirius, but there wasn't much he could do about either thing.

When Albus Dumbledore made a decision, you could always count on it being the right thing to do; even if it seemed so wrong. And, Remus reminded himself, Professor Dumbledore had fought and fought for a trial for Sirius but the Ministry was having none of it. Remus had known how it had looked – the Black's had a reputation for being Dark Wizards, even if Sirius didn't have a bad bone in his body – and Peter had been the one to end up dead, along with 12 muggles, not Sirius. There just hadn't been any evidence that Peter had been the one to switch sides, not Sirius – James and Lily's secrecy about the whole thing to ensure the information didn't get into the wrong hands was what had led to Sirius' imprisonment.

 _Of course_ , Remus, and even Dumbledore, knew Sirius was innocent of the crime of betraying his best friend, but there was absolutely nothing to prove that and everything to suggest Sirius _was_ guilty of murdering 12 muggles, even if Remus believed it had been an accident. An explosion of his unruly magic.

But the fact of the matter remained – Sirius had been arrested whilst he was _laughing;_ the blood of what the Ministry believed to be 13 innocent people on his hands.

Shaking his head, Remus sighed and decided to make himself a cup of green tea. He needed to calm down; there was no use being angry about the things he couldn't change. He knew he should focus more on making sure Isabelle knew everything she needed to know about her family but nothing that didn't concern her. Nothing that would scare her. He vowed to tell her, just as soon as he finished his tea.

But a knock at the door stopped him doing even a simple thing like finish a calming drink and he opened it, cursing silently in his head as the day's plans came back to him.

"Morning, Remus." It was Augusta Longbottom and her grandson Neville. Remus and her had planned to spend the day in Diagon Alley as both of them had a lot of shopping to do, which they wanted to get out of the way before it got to busy with Hogwarts students.

"Morning Augusta. Hello there, Neville," Remus said in a tired voice, with a tired smile. He didn't know if he would be able to manage getting around London after the night and morning he'd had. "Isabelle, your friend is here!" he called up the stairs. "You can go on up to her room, Neville." Neville nodded and rushed towards the stairs, tripping over a lump in the carpet which Remus never seemed to have time to fix.

"You're exhausted, Remus," Augusta said as Remus showed her into the living room and they sat down.

"I had a long night but I'll be fine," he said.

Augusta nodded, although looked uncertain. "I can take them both if you need the day to yourself; just give me a list of things you need from Diagon Alley." Remus would have been lying to himself if he said that he didn't think about taking Augusta up on her offer.

"No, that's okay. I'd like to come." The adults talked for a little while about the Quidditch results and the recent release of a new book by Gilderoy Lockhart (well, it was more like Augusta ranting about what an idiot "that Lockhart fool" was and, although he didn't say it, Remus silently agreed). After about 20 minutes, they decided that they should get going so Remus said he would go and tell the kids. He got to Isabelle's room and walked in. Her and Neville seemed to be in deep discussion, but they stopped talking as soon as he entered the room. Neville seemed to look guilty – as if they'd been talking about things they shouldn't have been talking about. Isabelle ignored Remus, still angry about what she'd found out this morning. "We're going to head off now," he told them.

Neville followed him out immediately, however, Izzy stayed inside the room. She glanced at her wardrobe, obviously mulling something over. Then, as if making a decision, opened it and pulled out a cloak which had been wrapped up carefully but shoved at the bottom of her wardrobe. Izzy stuffed the cloak into her backpack then rushed after her dad and Neville.

 **. . .**

The four of them chose to use Floo Powder to get to Diagon Alley, as it was the quickest way for them to travel and Remus didn't really trust their car to get them all the way to London and back. After Augusta and Neville had gone through the fireplace (with Neville almost falling out as he threw the powder into the grate), Remus handed Izzy the bag of Floo Powder. "After you, Iz," he said. She looked at him coldly then turned away, barely glancing at her dad as she muttered 'Diagon Alley' and disappeared into green flames.

Remus felt awful. His whole stomach was in knots and he had no idea what to say to his daughter. What reason – one acceptable to give Isabelle – did he have to explain why he hadn't fought to keep Harry? What reason did he have to explain why he had allowed the siblings to be split up?

He didn't have any. None that were reasonable anyway. The only way to explain to Izzy why the decisions that were made had been made was to explain the whole story. Explain that Albus Dumbledore truly believed that Harry was safer with Lily's family and explain why Izzy wasn't there too. That one was easier to explain – Dumbledore had had no idea Izzy had existed until a year after her parents had died and had believed that her staying with Remus would be better.

Remus sighed and walked into the fireplace, repeating the location that the three people previous had said and disappearing in amongst green flames.

 **. . .**

Neville and Isabelle were bored. So far, their guardians had taken them into Flourish and Blott's, the Apothecary and a very boring shop which didn't seem to sell anything. Now they were going into Gringotts so Augusta and Remus could get some gold. "Now, we're trusting you to both stay here and not talk to anyone," Remus said to the kids slowly. Neville nodded; Izzy ignored him.

Remus and Augusta followed the goblin and Izzy grabbed her backpack from her shoulders. "Here, Neville, hold this," she said, thrusting the bag into his arms. He held it patiently as she searched it. Finally, she pulled out the cloak she had taken from her wardrobe, then took her bag back. "Let's go."

"What's that?" he asked uncertainly.

"It's just a cloak. Come on, we have loads of time before they come back up from the vaults," Izzy said. Neville allowed her to throw the cloak over him and her and then the pair of them walked out of the bank.

"Um... Izzy? Why is no one looking at us?" Neville asked.

"Shh, Neville – I'm trying to concentrate. I always get confused at this bit," Izzy said. They walked through the streets of Diagon Alley; Neville occasionally tripping over rocks, the pavement, Izzy or his own feet, and Izzy trying not to bring attention to them by getting annoyed at him. "Okay, here we go."

"The Leaky Cauldron?" he said. He sounded worried. "We can't go in there – we're kids."

"Don't be stupid. Kids are allowed in here. You just have to be with an adult," she replied. She walked to the door, pulling Neville along with her and making sure the cloak still covered the both of them completely.

"Neither of us are adults," Neville said.

"They can't know that if they can't see us," Izzy said. " _This_ isn't any old cloak, Longbottom. It's an invisibility cloak."

"Isabelle..." Neville warned. He knew this was going to go so wrong and he didn't want to get into trouble. "We should just go back..." he tried.

"We're here now. We may as well see if we can find something out."

"Find _what_ out?"

Izzy sighed impatiently. "Stuff about what really happened to Harry Potter and You-Know-Who."

"Why would anyone be talking about Harry Potter?" Neville asked. "That all happened years ago. Can't we just ask your dad? What if him and gran are back now and are getting worried?"

"Blah, blah, blah, Neville," Izzy said. "Nothing's gonna happen. No one can even see we're here."

* * *

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